nevasport.com

Posted: March 12, 2014 09:30PM
Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 150
The following text is a translation of Discovering Formigal, by u/Alcaraz.

Discovering Formigal – Christmas 2012

As some of you may know I live in Ciudad Real and the closest ski resort to us is Sierra Nevada. For that reason my family and I have always spent Christmas there.

This year, due to lack of snow, we decided to change location, even if it meant doing a bunch of extra kilometres. Formigal looked like one of the resorts with the best snow conditions for the Christmas period so we decided to go there.

With this report I will try to explain our experience during the trip and help others who may be planning a trip to Formigal, at the same time as giving a heads up on the snow conditions in the resort. Here we go smiling smiley

It all started on the 22nd of December at 3:00 AM, ahead of us a 671km road trip and around 7 hours drive:



It may seem like a long trip at first but it went by quite fast thanks to the fact that most of us were sleeping for most of it xD the driver cannot say the same thing Diablillo

These are some pictures taken while driving through Guadalajara, I was awake on this stretch risas





At 7AM we got to Soria. Passing by Medinaceli...





Right before getting to Zaragoza, at about 8:45, we got a shot of the Moncayo



After driving past Aragon's capital city, on the way to Huesca along the A-23:







Getting close to Guara Range and Monrepos Pass:





At the pass:









Once over the pass we started descending towards Sabiñanigo, and drooling with the views of Aragon´s Pyenees:





The white delicacy is getting closer Banana esquí











Búbal-Saqués-Escarrilla … c'mon, we´re almost there:









Snow is starting to appear on both sides of the road:





Something appears over there hehehe







WE GOT THERE! All right, time to look for our hotel risas





















Once we located it we headed to Sextas to get our mountain passes and drive around the valleys in the resort:





On the way to Portalet we noticed the big difference in the amount of snow between Sextas and the border; now we understand why Aramón did not install webcams in Sextas! sospechoso











We were in French land for a bit, just fooling around LOL Diablillo





After that we went back to the hotel because the next day we would need all our energy to get familiar with all the areas in the resort. During the trip back to the hotel we took some more pictures that show the lack of snow in the Sextas area...









Dinner and straight to bed, tomorrow will begin the enticing part of this trip...

December 23rd, firt day of ski:

The morning sun from our hotel window:



We had breakfast and left for the slopes:





Tres Hombres-Sextas area:



Down by the slopes in Sextas it was not cold at all, around 6ºC at 9:30





We begin our tour around the resort, up the Sallent lift and down the River as a warm up. Then on to Izas-Sarrios valley:

Escarra and Huegas T-bars:



High area at Izas looked epic:







We did a few runs on the blue slopes at Sarrios and then towards Anayet through the gap

Getting in the valley:







Midi d'Ossau:



We went by Midi and got to the valley bottom:





We continued towards France - grabbed the Garmet chairlift, went down Batallero, and back up the same chair to get back to Anayet.

Between Anayet and Portalet smiling smiley









Formigal in the distance





Except for the area around Sextas, few snow making machines were on



Straight away we went down La Glera and then up Anayet chair lift to get back to Izas-Sarrios.

Images taken from the top (Collado), just at the start of the Pico Royo run:







This is the turn off to Courloir Mirador which gives you goose bumps - what on earth is there behind that? sorprendido





Lunch in Izas and then spent the afternoon relaxing in Sarrios:

Off-piste in Pico Royo:



These are the slopes at Izas, amazingly carpeted with snow smiling smiley











We ended the day going back to the parking lot down the Río run:





8 ºC in Cantal …





And that was the end of the day - our objective accomplished, to go from Sextas to Portalet and get familiar with the resort. Tomorrow, during the lessons, we will get to know all the hidden corners of this mountains.

This is a map with all the runs we did today:



At the end of the Río run from the car - lower elevations are badly in need of a good dump:



On route to the hotel:







December 24th, today is when the fun starts, we have ski lessons from 10am to 1pm, ripping it up all over the resort as well as improving our technique.

At 9am we were already in Sextas warming up before start suffering this resort, hahaha









At 10 we started with the shenanighans by riding up the Sallent to head towards Sarrios, and then from there on to Anayet. Up the Garmet and down the Corona run to get to Portalet and ride the Espelunciecha lift.

First hadcore descent, Corvas, turned my legs into jelly.

Retuning to Anayet, and from there on to Sarrios, to do a few lines down the red slopes by the Huegas Tbar.

And we finished the day with a couple of runs in the Tres Hombres area

To sum up the day:



We had lunch in Sextas with the family and then did a few more runs in the afternoon in Izas-Sarrios and Tres Hombres-Sextas valleys.

Pictures from Cantal:









In spite of temperatures being quite high the snow was still in good condition Ojos y dientes



Lanuza Tbar, in Sarrios; this area looked like a fridge, snow was in such a good condition sorprendido







Powder in the lower part of Sarrios



Me with the "Collado" in the background:



Again, returning to Sextas by the run el Río:







December 25th turns out to be grey and overcast, but this does not stop us from enjoying ourselves:







As the previous day, we did some warm ups before the lessons tarted:









We headed up at 10:05, today we will ski around Tres Hombres:

We go down El Río to grab Tramacastilla Tbar, I have to say I absolutely loved the views around here enamorado - love

Run down Descenso and Tres Hombres and up Crestas chair lift.

We wanted to sneak in El Bosque run but it was closed. However the Couloir Tosquera wasn´t so we headed there. Banana esquí

We got to the bottom of Crestas chair lift and again went up, this time to gown Stadium slope all the way from top to bottom - yesterday we only did a section and we were keen to do the whole thing haha. This is a great run, which we linked with Descenso to get to Sextas.

Then we hopped on Sallent and Collado chairs and we got in towards Anayet going down Midi, La Carbonera and Mina.

All this time it was spitting rain under 1,700m, at times turning to stronger rain but nothing too bad. At higher altitudes, over 1,800 to 1,900m there was a light snowfall that wasn´t sticking but was enought to cover your goggles with snow.

After Anayet we returned to Sarrios by the Collado, visibility was still good here, hiwever in the higher part of Tres Hombres the clouds were truly closing up.

There was not much left to do so we did a few runs around Tres Hombres and put an end to the day. Let´s not forget that this is the only resort in Spain that closes at 2pm on Christmas day.

This shows the runs we did today:



In Cantal we got our picture taken by a photographer from the ski school. I would like to send my greetings from here smiling smiley pulgar arriba You are great guys!


In Sextas we returned our lift pass to get back our fee and then headed home - even though the fee is only 3€ there is no reason to give them to Aramon, is there?.

On the way back to Jaca:





On the route back home through Pamplona we decided to stay at a rural hotel located in Aizpún, a village only 30km from Pamplona, to tak a break, enjoy the views and relax. We stayed here from the 25th till the 27th:

Val de Goñi is the valley where the village is located:













There was snow! sorprendidosorprendidosorprendido







The following day we drove to Ciudad Real, about 650km far from Pamplona - we went for a stroll along some of the most remarkable streets in the city such as Estafeta, Mañueta and the city council´s square:







Castillo square:





And of course, we visited Reyno de Navarra to get some CA Osasuna merchandise chino amable

After this last stop we drove all the way to Ciudad Real Llorón

These pics were taken arriving to my home land, there is no mountains around here...









All in all this was an excellent trip with the family. If I had to give Formigal a grade, from my point if view as somebody who has never been to the Pyrenees before, I would give it a 9: access to the resort is good, great snow conditions, amazing runs... I will for sure come back pulgar arriba

On a negative note some of the lifts were a bit slow and snow was a bit lacking in some sectors at lower altitudes, but everything else forementioned made up for this.

And that´s all folks, thank you for reading this brick wall, I hope you enjoyed smiling smiley

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: March 13, 2014 08:54AM
Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 5,195
fantastic report! well done! smiling smileypulgar arriba



Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: March 13, 2014 07:15PM
Admin
Registered: 19 years ago
Posts: 24,488
Good job Fairy de las Nieves pulgar arribapulgar arriba



Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: March 13, 2014 07:16PM
Moderator
Registered: 19 years ago
Posts: 13,260
Thank you very much indeed for that awesome job Fairy de las nieves!



Solo sé que Sócrates no sabía nada, o algo así era
Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: March 16, 2014 10:26PM
Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,941
It's so good that I can't believe. Thank's for all Fairy de las Nieves smiling smiley pulgar arriba pulgar arriba
Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: March 17, 2014 06:40AM
Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 150
No probs guys. More on the way - well, it might take a bit, we just got some new snow so I´ll be busy Diablillo



Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: March 17, 2014 08:21PM
Moderator
Registered: 19 years ago
Posts: 13,260
Enjoy! We are looking forward to seeing your next article!



Solo sé que Sócrates no sabía nada, o algo así era
Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: March 19, 2014 02:20PM
Registered: 17 years ago
Posts: 1,515
30 shots just for the road trip No entiendo 671/30 = 22.366 km per photo

Take care if you go to French Alps by car risas
Great article, it´s a Formigal Visual Encyclopaedia charlatán




Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: March 24, 2014 08:27PM
Registered: 10 years ago
Posts: 20
Beautiful pictures!
Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: November 11, 2014 01:13PM
Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 339
Nice job with the report. Keep doing like this smiling smiley



Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: November 14, 2014 10:40PM
Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 528
We hope that you enjoyed the weekend in Formigal smiling smiley



Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: November 26, 2014 12:22PM
Registered: 9 years ago
Posts: 114
Sweet!
Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: February 13, 2015 09:11PM
Registered: 9 years ago
Posts: 17
Nice
Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Posted: February 14, 2015 11:24AM
Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 1,309
Thanks a lot for this report, the best one never seen!!!! Congratulations...pulgar arribapulgar arribapulgar arriba very nice pictures!!!!pulgar arriba



La montaña nevada me da vida...
Karma: 0 - Votos positivos: 0 - Votos negativos: 0
Escribe tu respuesta




AVISO: La IP de los usuarios queda registrada. Los comentarios aquí publicados no reflejan de ningún modo la opinión de nevasport.com. Esta web se reserva el derecho a eliminar los mensajes que no considere apropiados para este contenido. Cualquier comentario ofensivo será eliminado sin previo aviso.